by our College Data Analytics TeamBelow is federal data on the loans students use to pay for Center for Advanced Legal Studies— how much they borrow, how that debt is spread across the student body, and what it costs to pay back. These figures are reported by the Department of Education and IPEDS.
For incoming students at Center for Advanced Legal Studies, 79% of new students use loans toward freshman-year expenses, with a typical loan of $6,853 each — a figure that counts both private and federal student loans.
Federal loans alone average $6,853. That sits at or beyond the $5,500 first-year federal limit for a typical dependent student. Bear in mind the undergraduate averages later on cover federal loans only, whereas this freshman total folds in private loans too.
For undergraduates overall at Center for Advanced Legal Studies, 63% take out federal student loans, at an average of $6,740 per year. It comes to 1.6% below the $6,853 freshmen take on.
Borrowing the same amount each year would add up to roughly $13,480 over two years and about $26,960 over four years. This assumes steady federal borrowing and leaves out private and Parent PLUS loans.
| Undergraduate federal borrowing | Value |
|---|---|
| Share using federal loans | 63% |
| Average federal loan per year | $6,740 |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan | 271 |
| Total federal loans (one year) | $1,826,460 |
Graduating and withdrawing students at Center for Advanced Legal Studies carry a median federal debt of $9,395 in federal borrowing.
| Borrower group | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| All federal borrowers | $9,395 |
| Students who completed (graduates) | $9,500 |
| Students who withdrew | $4,750 |
The figure for students who withdrew is worth watching: debt without a completed credential is the hardest to repay.
Half of all borrowers fall between the 25th and 75th percentiles shown below for Center for Advanced Legal Studies.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,808 |
| 25th percentile | $4,341 |
| 75th percentile | $9,500 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $19,580 |
The gap between the 10th and 90th percentile is the clearest single measure of how widely borrowing varies at Center for Advanced Legal Studies.
PLUS loans — taken out by parents or graduate students — add to the total cost of attendance financed by debt at Center for Advanced Legal Studies.
| Group | Borrowers | Median debt incl. PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| All borrowers | 23 | $11,000 |
These figures turn the debt totals into a monthly repayment picture for Center for Advanced Legal Studies.
Defaulting means failing to repay a federal student loan, which carries serious credit consequences. The official Department of Education two-year default rate for Center for Advanced Legal Studies is shown below.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2-year cohort default rate | 9.4% |
| Borrowers in the cohort | 179 |
This rate follows a borrower cohort from the start of repayment through the two-year window the Department of Education uses.
The breakdowns below show median federal debt by income, first-generation status, and dependency.
Median Debt by Income Bracket
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $9,394 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $9,395 |
| Continuing-generation students | $9,394 |
Dependency-Status Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,254 |
| Independent students | $9,397 |
Federal data publishes the following gap measures for Center for Advanced Legal Studies.
Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
Unsubsidized federal student loans accrue interest every month — even while you are still enrolled. Unless you pay that interest as it builds, the balance you owe at graduation can be noticeably higher than the amount you originally borrowed.
Important to Remember
Federal student loans are not discharged in bankruptcy in all but the rarest cases, and the government can withhold part of your income or tax refund if you default.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.